Fear is our Enemy

Written by my friend Cate Lau-Booth.

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I’d become encapsulated by disease. I was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s eight years ago but now my team of medical experts think I have Fronto-Temporal Dementia.
Whether it’s FTD or EOAD, or some other form of neurological decompensation, my life was full of uncertainty.
What I didn’t realize was that the opportunity for personal growth was also there.
If that seems unlikely, allow me to expand your personal horizons.
 
After many years of unhappiness, my husband has agreed to a legal and physical separation for a year. He is buying me a more suitable single-story house, nearer to my extended family, and providing me with a stipend. He himself will leave town and return to his undergraduate alma mater as an administrator.
 
I look forward to moving away from unpleasant memories and the lack of physical access – whole floors of my current home are unavailable to me as a consequence of my illness – to a house that sparkles with possibilities. I feel more alive in my body than I have in years, as my mind engages more fully with ideas for using my new home.
 
As I write this, I want to emphasize the new name of this page to reflect my regained purpose and renewed promise: FEAR IS OUR ENEMY.
 
Even though my body and my brain are betraying me,
breaking the contract made at my birth,
my point here is clear:
we must all have goals to work toward, to look forward to,
something to pour our creative energies into.
 
Don’t allow your diagnosis to define you –
fight the fear of death, of disability – to be who you are as long as you can be.
For myself, I look forward to making art again, having my supplies at hand again.
I’m an artist – I make beauty from the world around me,
whether it’s plants in the garden or paints on paper.
 
Who are you?
Be yourself – find ways to engage with the world in spite of your diagnosis.
Don’t mistake me – I have my down days
but as I write this, I have hope and the will to fight.
 
All my love,
Cate
 

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Above was written by Cate Lau-Booth on 09Aug2020.  Her FaceBook profile is at https://www.facebook.com/cate.lau.5 .

Index for Cate’s pages in my blogsite >> https://truthfulkindness.com/index-persons-with-dementia-pwd/cate-l-b/ .

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“I love gardening.
My mind is busy with thoughts of what should be planted in shade or sunlight.
Creating something lovely,”

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. * Admin issues: SHARE dementia awareness thru buttons below. Subscribe “FOLLOW” button is at the very bottom of the page, with “Category” Links, “Recent Posts” and “Archive”.  If you put your eMail address there you should get an eMail each time i write a blog entry.  Feel free to leave your thoughts in the form of comments, but please filter your comments with truthful loving kindness to all concerned. … *** …  If there is an advertisement below, I have no control over what is shown. My own full legal name is Truthful Loving Kindness. My current diagnosis is still Mild Cognitive Impairment, but my neurologist said I am in a unique position for helping because I have “one foot in each door”. Text Copyright © by Cate Lau Booth on 09Aug2020, and permission given at LHEO on 06Dec2020, but i have put some things in bold font, and added row breaks for clarity. Copyright for graphic to ArtTower on PixaBay. Posted 10Dec2020, with final approval at FaceBook PM on 10Dec2020.  Tags: accessability, alzheimers, Cate Lau-Booth, creativity, dementia, happiness, persons living with dementia, PLwD, purpose, 

 

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